The Glossarist Concept Model

A self-contained information model for terminology management, aligned with ISO 10241-1, 704, 30042, 12620, and 25964 — designed to handle everything from simple glossaries to complex multilingual concept systems, with interoperability across multiple technology ecosystems.

How concepts work

Every Glossarist concept is a ManagedConcept — a language-independent entity that groups per-language LocalizedConcept instances. Each localization carries its own definitions, designations, notes, examples, and source references.

The model separates what a concept is (its identity, lifecycle, relationships) from how it is expressed (terms, abbreviations, symbols in different languages). This separation lets you maintain concept-level relationships (broader, narrower, equivalent) independently of language-specific terminology.

Authoring concepts in YAML

Concepts are authored in structured YAML files. The V3 schema consolidates all localizations into a single file per concept:

# concepts/3.1.1.1.yaml
termid: "3.1.1.1"
termid_uuid: "a1b2c3d4-..."
status: valid
tags: [geometry, foundational]

eng:
  terms:
    - type: expression
      designation: "entity"
      normative_status: preferred
  definition:
    - content: "A concrete or abstract thing that exists, has existed, or can exist"
      examples:
        - content: "A bank account, a transaction, a customer"
      notes:
        - content: "Includes objects, concepts, and relationships"
  sources:
    - type: authoritative
      origin: "ISO 19107:2003, 4.5"
      status: identical

fra:
  terms:
    - type: expression
      designation: "entité"
      normative_status: preferred
  definition:
    - content: "chose concrète ou abstraite qui existe, a existé ou peut exister"
  sources:
    - type: authoritative
      origin: "ISO 19107:2003, 4.5"
      status: identical

See the YAML Schema Reference for complete field documentation and enum values, or the Entity Field Reference for per-entity field lists with types and cardinality.

What’s new in v3.1

The v3.1.0 release (July 2026) extends the concept model with dataset-aware structure and non-verbal entities. It is a fully additive release — no existing URI was renamed.

Standards alignment

Every entity in the Glossarist model maps to established international standards:

Processing with code

JavaScript (glossarist-js)

import { loadGcr, readConcepts } from 'glossarist';

const concepts = readConcepts('./geolexica-v2/');
concepts.forEach(c => {
  console.log(c.id, c.primaryDesignation('eng'));
});

Ruby (glossarist-ruby)

require 'glossarist'

collection = Glossarist::ManagedConceptCollection.new
collection.load_from_files('./concepts/')

concept = collection['3.1.1.1']
puts concept.localizations['eng'].definition

Reference sections

• Concepts — ManagedConcept, LocalizedConcept, concept lifecycle, collections
• Designations — Designation type hierarchy, pronunciation, base properties
• Relationships — Typed relationship kinds across 4 standards
• Sources — Authoritative source hierarchy and provenance
• Datasets & sections — DatasetRegister, hierarchical sections, ordering, bibliography
• Non-verbal entities — Figure, Table, Formula as dataset-level resources
• Term Types — ISO 12620 term type classifications
• YAML Schemas — V2 and V3 schema overview and examples
• YAML Schema Browser — Interactive JSON Schema definitions
• Entity Field Reference — Per-entity field reference with types and cardinality
• Ontology Browser — Interactive OWL ontology and SHACL shape browser